Guyana is one of five Caribbean countries in which significant progress has been reported in the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Strategic HIV/AIDS Responses in Enterprises (SHARE) project.
According to a press release, an ILO report, which is to be released on Tuesday next, reveals that new programmes designed to step up action against HIV/AIDS in the workplace are becoming increasingly common in the Caribbean. The report, titled ‘Saving Lives, Protecting Jobs’ names Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago as having successfully put in place policies and programmes addressing discrimination and behaviour change in and through the workplace.
The report highlights the progress being made in implementation of HIV workplace policies and programmes at the enterprise and national levels in the 24 countries covered by the project.
Among the stories highlighted in the report, the press release said, is that of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). It noted that GuySuCo was one of the 650 workplaces partnering with SHARE around the world and the largest employer Guyana.
Its 17,500 staff members join the ranks of the estimated million workers benefiting from the ILO interventions financed by the United States Department of Labor and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Along with 17 other enterprises collaborating with the project in Guyana, GuySuCo has adopted an HIV/AIDS workplace policy and offers HIV services to workers and managers, the press release said.
In Guyana, all of the 18 partner enterprises have incorporated at least the five key principles of the ILO HIV/AIDS Code of Practice in their written policy including non-discrimination, no mandatory testing, medical confidentiality, universal precautions and access to education. Moreover, 78 per cent of the partner enterprises in Guyana allocated official working hours to HIV/AIDS education during the last six months, the release said.
It also mentioned that in Barbados, several large corporations have pledged US$150,000 in cash and in-kind to the AIDS Foundation for the next three years to build the capacity of this business coalition responsible for coordinating the private sector response to HIV/AIDS in the country and to support companies in HIV workplace initiatives.
The press release also noted significant work being done in Belize, by its Ministry of Labour, Local Government and Rural Development; in Jamaica by its Ministry of Labour and Social Security and National Association of Hairdressers and Cosmetologists; in Trinidad and Tobago by the National Barbering Association and the government. It said Trinidad recently adopted a national workplace policy on HIV and AIDS.
In addition, the report found a marked improvement in six pilot countries – Belize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana and Togo – over the last four years in attitudes of workers towards people living with HIV. The proportion of workers who reported supportive behaviour towards co-workers living with HIV rose from 49 per cent to 63 per cent on average during the life of the SHARE programme. In addition, the percentage of workers who reported using condoms with non-regular partners rose from 74 per cent to 84 per cent. In Belize, the proportion of workers who reported a positive attitude towards condom use increased from 52.7 per cent to 72 per cent.
The recorded changes in behaviour could be attributed in part to increased access to HIV services in enterprises in all six countries. At the start of SHARE in 2003, only 14 per cent of the participating enterprises in the six pilot countries had written HIV policies. When the impact survey was conducted 76 per cent of the participating enterprises had written HIV policies in place.
The report will be launched along with a film titled Creating Change during the ILO Sub-regional Interactive Learning Event on HIV/AIDS Behaviour Change Communication for the workplace organized by SHARE at Divi Southwinds, Bridgetown, Barbados on May 20. SHARE aims at reducing employment-related discrimination against PLHIV, maintaining employment for workers living with HIV, reducing high-risk behaviour and facilitating access to voluntary and confidential testing, treatment, care and support.
The programme started five years ago and is now collaborating with 650 enterprises, reaching an estimated one million workers in 24 countries.
The first programmes set up under SHARE in Belize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana, India and Togo, are now well established and turning into sustainable national programmes, the ILO said.
As a result of positive achievements and effective programme implementation, SHARE projects are attracting increasing attention and their scope is expanding with additional funding becoming available. Chief among the new donors is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has funded extensions to SHARE projects in Botswana, Guyana, India, Lesotho and Swaziland.
